Pittsburgh Steelers Sign Former Heisman Trophy Winner Troy Smith: Fan’s Opinion

When Troy Smith became a free agent at the end of the 2010-2011.season there were rumors that the Pittsburgh Steelers were interested. The Steelers already had a similar player in Dennis Dixon and two other backups for starter Ben Roethlisberger so nothing ever came of the rumors. It seems those rumors were true it just took the Steelers a year to sign Troy Smith.

All three of the Steelers' backups for Roethlisberger—Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch and Dixon—are free agents and it is unknown whether Pittsburgh plans to re-sign any of them. There are good reasons not to sign any of them. Leftwich could have been a capable backup quarterback but he was never healthy when the Steelers needed him. Batch and Dixon both got ample opportunities but neither took advantage of it.

It is still possible that the Steelers sign one of the three-or somebody completely different-to be the number two quarterback and Smith is just the third string quarterback. In my opinion Smith will be the number two quarterback because I believe that if the Steelers felt comfortable with their back up situation at all then Roethlisberger would have sat the last three games instead of hobbling on one leg and risking a more serious injury

That means goodbye to Batch and Dixon. I suppose it's still possible that the Steelers bring back Leftwich but as I said before he hasn't been able to stay on the field. Even if Leftwich is the back up next season Smith could get some playing time if Leftwich is injured yet again.

In another article I wrote I stated that the Steelers should draft a quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft. I do like Smith better than Batch and Dixon and if Leftwich is healthy then Roethlisberger/Leftwich/Smith is a pretty strong threesome. If there is still a quarterback that the Steelers like in the 5^th to 7^th rounds I still don't think it would hurt to take a chance on one. Especially if the Steelers don't re-sign Leftwich.

Smith has played 20 games in the NFL and started in 8 of them. During his career he has completed 51.7 percent of his passes and thrown for 1734 yards, thrown 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Like many college quarterbacks that can run Smith has depended on running too often and it has resulted in being sacked 23 times and fumbling the ball nine times while rushing for 230 yards and scoring three rushing touchdowns.

Sources:

Ed Bouchette, 2006 Heisman-winning QB Troy Smith signs with Steelers , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The last several generations of Lee Andrew Henderson's family were Pittsburgh born and even though he was born in Alabama he has been a long time fan of the Pirates, Steelers and Panthers. Lee Andrew Henderson can be found on Twitter at @LeeAHenderson

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